• undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    Its only crazy if you don’t want to look at why they’re doing it square in the eye. Please don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t judge anyone doing it, presuming it does apply a little you yourself. I could be wrong of course. The truth is very, very ugly and not something anyone would want to be true.

    Despite their claims, the problem was never the cost to the government of feeding the homeless, as can be seen. The reason the police do this is that wage slaves won’t be forced back into the worst, most poorly paid jobs we can find if they’re not facing death by starvation.

    It was the same in the UK, back when they made feeding the homeless illegal and the penalty being being homeless OR without a job for 3 days was being sent to the workhouse where you might well be worked to death.

    Its the same thing, centuries apart.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      The reason the police do this is that wage slaves won’t be forced back into the worst, most poorly paid jobs we can find if they’re not facing death by starvation.

      Systemically, yes this is why the police are allowed broadly by society to discourage helping those in need.

      On a more personal, fundamental and visceral level, it’s because the police are a product of people who have held power for a long, long time. And you know what poor and homeless people are to the systems that maintain the status quo? They’re an inconvenient reminder that our system is designed to benefit a few, and that there are people hoarding gold and diamond backscratchers for every day of the week while children starve on the street.

      That’s a pretty downer reminder, isn’t it? Throw in some of our human vices that we all share from top to bottom like substance abuse and you have a complete picture of what any of us could become if we’re not careful.

      See, for the vast majority of comfortable Americans, the homeless they pass every day are not reminders that humans need help, they are a reminder of failure. In a world where success is measured in dollar signs and possessions, someone without either is a scary, harsh reminder that we’re all on a tightrope.

      Brush them aside. Put them somewhere. Get them into some kind of “camp” and shuffle them out of view, lest they spoil this perfect image we have created of the modern world.

    • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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      9 days ago

      That is the role of the state and capitalists but that is not what is on the mind of an abusive cop. They believe the bullshit.